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Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM)are locked in mortal combat: They compete for the coveted title of “most valuable company,” see-sawing back and forth around the $400 billion market cap mark.

This makes for exciting headlines. But did you know that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) doesn’t even rank among the 10 largest companies if you measure by annual sales instead?

By that measure, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) comes in at No. 11 among companies that trade on American stock exchanges.

Beating Cupertino’s $165 billion in trailing sales still isn’t easy — unless you happen to run a global oil-production company. Eight of the 10 stocks ranking ahead of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) on this list are oil giants, spearheaded by Netherlands-based Royal Dutch Shell plc (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.A), in pole position with $482 billion in trailing revenue. Exxon’s $450 billion puts it in third place.

Sliding into second place and breaking up the oily dominance a bit, you’ll find retail giant Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) at $464 billion. Sam Walton’s empire has turned high-volume retailing into an art and a science.

Joining Wal-Mart and Exxon as American outposts on this elite list, you’ll see Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) sliding in at No. 9 with $223 billion in revenue. Texas-based Philips 66 rounds out the top 10 with a $166 billion tally, narrowly beating out Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s top-line total.

The only other non-oil operation here is Japanese car king Toyota Motor Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:TM), in a respectable seventh position with sales of $254 billion.

All the other giants up top are oil producers based in places like China, France, and Great Britain.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is well-represented here, courtesy of Wal-Mart, Exxon, and Chevron. Looking a bit further down the ranks, 15 of the 30 Dow components rank among the global market’s 50 biggest revenue-producers.

And if the Dow aims to reflect the titans of American industry, let me point out that every single one of the 30 members places in the top 10% of the revenue-hungriest tradable businesses in the world.

So that’s what it takes to beat Apple on the top line. Your best bet would be pumping oil, followed by incredibly high-volume retail operations and global leadership in big-ticket items like cars. I find it pretty incredible that Apple’s mobile gadgetry even lands it close to this list of leaders.